Patrick McKenna

Patrick McKenna

Patrick McKenna, actor (born at Hamilton, Ont 8 May 1960). Patrick McKenna attended Westmount High School in Hamilton and received a diploma in business administration from Sheridan College in Brampton in 1982. He put himself through college by working at the Second City Dinner Theatre as the night manager and after attending one of their open auditions he was accepted into the company, where he displayed a knack for improvisation and a methodical approach to character. He has played a variety of roles in a wide range of comedic and dramatic productions; the characters he plays are often keenly eloquent, talkative, confident, brash and sometimes neurotic.

After leaving live theatre in the late 1980s McKenna made guest appearances on many Canadian and American syndicated television series, notably Forever Knight, Robocop: The Series and Street Legal. In 1991 he was approached by Steve SMITH for a lead role in a new comedy series called The Red Green Show (1991-2005). McKenna played Harold Green, the bespectacled nerdy nephew and co-host to his Uncle Red's handyman show broadcast from the fictional Possum Lodge. A self-conscious and intelligent sitcom spoofing rural masculinity, The Red Green Show was a breakthrough success in North America and transformed McKenna into one of the most recognizable and sought-after character actors in Canada.

In 1996 McKenna took on another memorable role as head trader Marty Stephens in the fiscal-minded drama Traders (1996-2000), his performance as the ruthlessly ambitious pit boss winning him the 1997 best supporting actor GEMINI AWARD in a dramatic series. Marty Stephens could not have been more different from Harold Green, but McKenna inhabited both roles with ease and was recognized for his versatility with 2 Gemini Awards in 1998, for best performance in a comedy series and in a continuing dramatic role.

In 2005 Patrick McKenna won the Golden Sheaf Award for best actor at the Yorkton International Film Festival, for his part in the short film Milo 55160. He has been seen on Canadian television in recurring roles in the series Blue Murder (2001), ReGenesis (2004), Getting Along Famously (2006), Robson Arms (2007-08), Little Mosque on the Prairie (2007-08), Guns (2009) and The Border (2008-09). He has also appeared in, among many others, the very popular Trudeau miniseries (2002), The Murdoch Mysteries (2010) and Less Than Kind (2010). He starred as the jealous and insecure Jim Fenton in the romantic comedy Everywhere (2010) and in Toronto filmed Margarita (2011), a comedy feature about a family's attempts to maintain the status quo during hard times. He appeared occasionally as Mr Nelson in the Family Channel's teen sitcom Wingin' It  (2011) and voiced family patriarch Norman Wendell who incautiously leads his vacationing family into the base of an Alberta canyon in the Canadian animated series Crash Canyon (2012).

Patrick McKenna is a spokesperson for the Golden Horseshoe Marathon for wheelchair athletes, the MS Society, McMaster Sick Kids, Lupus Canada and Adult ADHD.